For those of you not in the states and those who haven't heard the full story,
here it is. Things are not real great, but it could have been a lot worse.
Sarah
 
Cargo Ship Still Stuck Off Oregon
 
.c The Associated Press
 
 By JEFF BARNARD
 
COOS BAY, Ore. (AP) -- Demolitions experts brought in napalm and plastic
explosives Thursday in another attempt to set fire to a grounded cargo ship
and save Oregon's beaches from a disastrous spill of fuel oil.
 
``It's going to be like your barbecue pit, if you will,'' said Coast Guard
Chief Gene Maestas. ``They are going to put lighter fluid on the coals and
light it on fire.''
 
The 639-foot New Carissa, a Japanese-owned freighter, ran aground Feb. 4 about
150 yards offshore with nearly 400,000 gallons of tarlike bunker oil aboard.
It began leaking Monday as pounding waves widened the cracks in its hull.
 
With an approaching storm threatening to tear the ship apart with 70 mph
winds, federal and state authorities decided to burn the vessel and its fuel
-- something never before attempted in the Lower 48 states -- rather than risk
trying to bring the New Carissa out intact.
 
The first attempt Wednesday night using grenades and buckets of gasoline
fizzled with only a flash of flame and a plume of oily black smoke.
 
But the approaching gale slowed, and the revised forecast said a weakened
storm would move ashore late Thursday with rain and winds of no more than 45
mph. ``Our window of opportunity has widened,'' Maestas said.
 
On Thursday, Navy bomb experts boarded the ship with explosive charges that
they hoped would crack open the fuel tanks and allow the oil to fill the cargo
holds.
 
Then they planned to put nearly 350 gallons of napalm gel over the oil, leave
the ship and ignite it by remote control with C-4 plastic explosives. It could
take five days for the oil to burn.
 
``The controlled burn is the highest and best hope,'' Gov. John Kitzhaber
said. ``If we don't cause detonation and burn tonight, I guarantee you'll have
the release of oil.''
 
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration experts have said an oil spill
could, in a worst-case scenario, coat 50 to 100 miles of the coast. The oil
could could endanger threatened sea lions and shorebirds.
 
About 350 workers have been mobilized to scrape up the oil and watch for
fouled wildlife. Several soiled birds have been found, and harvesting of clams
and mussels has been banned.